I have been trying to plan this challenge for a month. While I do have a good start with some ideas for themes in mind, I needed to just start with an easy theme. This first week is just going to be celebrity chef week. I did a bold start with two recipes to start, but they made a lovely dinner. Both of today’s recipes come from the Twitter queen herself, Chrissy Teigan. They’re from her second cookbook Cravings: Hungry for more.
My first recipe is her Spice-Rubbed Parmesan Chicken Breasts. Her recipe is as follows:
1/4 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups finely grated Parmigiano-reggiano cheese
I did this recipe because it seemed like it could be an easy one to start with. There are basically five steps:
- You heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Mix the spices, garlic and oil in a bowl and rub all over the chicken.
- Put the cheese on.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Broil for 3-4 minutes.
For every recipe I make I am going to give everything three ratings: how easy it was to make it (1-10), how much I enjoyed it (1-10) and how much my husband enjoyed it (1-10). For this recipe, I’m happy I started with it. On a difficulty level, I would say it’s a 3. The only difficult thing for me to be honest was broiling– I had never broiled anything before. I didn’t even know what that setting was but apparently it makes fire shoot out of the top of my oven. My problem was, I didn’t really understand what it was doing and when I opened the door I only saw the front half of the chicken which meant the back half of the pan was a bit burnt. Basically, broiling made it nice and crispy and made the cheese almost like breadcrumbs on the chicken.
I thought the chicken might be a bit too spicy, but it turned out quite nice.
My rating: 7
Husband rating: 8
I would definitely make this again. Only difference would be to keep a closer eye on the broiler. The chicken was slightly dry and I also believe this was the culprit.
My second recipe I made was her Crispy Potato Smashies. The recipe is:
1 1/2 pounds baby potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
I obviously did not have any parsley. I never have any fresh herbs on hand. I keep saying I will start some sort of herb garden, but alas, one thing at a time. For these, they were a bit more difficult than the first dish but still not easy. Basically boil the potatoes (she used a method which I thought was really cool and easy! Put the potatoes in a microwave safe dish (I used a pyrex dish), put in 1/2 inch water (I used a bit more, I thought the water should mostly cover the potatoes), put some plastic wrap on top and poke some holes and then put it in the microwave for about 15 minutes, checking after 10.
I was nervous about the plastic wrap being in the microwave but it was fine and I feel like I saw on The Great British Baking Show (or The Master Class) that you can even put it in the oven? But don’t take my word on that. Once they’re fork tender, drain them and then smash them on a baking sheet. Chrissy Teigan says you should use the palm of your hand, but I was nervous about them being so hot and I wanted to get dinner a move on so I used the back of a flat spatula. Coat them with the oil, salt and pepper. You then pop them on the FLOOR of the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes, flip, cook another 10-15 minutes, sprinkle with some parsley and enjoy.
Now, I had two issues. One, I think I over microwaved them. One or two exploded and the middle was honestly completely missing, no idea what happened.
Two, I was not comfortable with baking these on the FLOOR of the oven. For one, I have a rack close to the floor and I had already been cooking the chicken and I was nervous about taking the bottom hot rack out. I also am just not so comfortable around fire and hot ovens to begin with (I’ve burned myself more times than I care to count) so I opted out of this. My potatoes were crispy but I feel like they would have been crispier if they HAD been on the floor. I’m sure it’s a nice tip but it wasn’t for me.
Level of difficulty: 4
My rating: 9
Husband rating: 8
I would definitely make these again. I might try broiling them for a minute or two to try and get them crispy. I have made a similar dish before, but I don’t remember there being any instruction to flip which I feel is KEY to get that even crispiness. So far, Ms. Twitter Queen is 2 for 2.
Great Cookbook Challenge 